They say, “When the house falls, the blame is never in short supply.” And that couldn’t ring truer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after its bruising defeat in the 2024 general elections. According to Musah Dunkwah, Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics, the finger-pointing has been anything but subtle, and the public has spoken loud and clear.
Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Dunkwah walked listeners through the results of a deep-dive post-election survey. The research, as he explained, began with an open question: Who do YOU think caused the NPP’s downfall? A clever move that let Ghanaians vent before the data got structured.
Unsurprisingly, topping the list was none other than former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. A resounding 68% of respondents pointed squarely at him, not just for what his government did, but how he did it. Many were turned off by what they described as his dismissive attitude, particularly when he told the people of the Ashanti Region they could vote for someone else if they weren’t pleased.
Now, “pride goeth before a fall,” and in this case, that fall may have been a political landslide.
Dunkwah also mentioned the President’s refusal to shake things up in his cabinet, despite repeated calls from within his party. And his public spats with traditional authorities? That was a nail in the coffin for many voters who hold such institutions in high regard.
Coming in second on the blame list was former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, with 40% of respondents citing his stewardship of the economy as a major deal-breaker. The economic headwinds under his watch, from inflation to the IMF tango, left a bitter taste.
Then there’s Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the man who carried the party’s hopes into the 2024 election. But according to 37% of those surveyed, the Vice President-turned-flagbearer didn’t quite rally the base or win new hearts. His message failed to resonate, and in politics, as they say, “a man who cannot sell himself, cannot sell a vision.”
Also catching some flak were Energy Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh (33%), various faceless government appointees (32%), and Members of Parliament (25%) who perhaps thought their seats were fireproof. Spoiler alert: they weren’t. Even Kennedy Agyapong, who didn’t make it past the NPP primaries, wasn’t spared—9% of respondents saw his role in the party’s internal drama as harmful to the bigger picture.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Mr. Dunkwah aimed the common excuse that voter apathy in NPP strongholds sealed the party’s fate. According to him, that’s a lazy narrative.
“Mathematically, that analysis is flawed,” he insisted.
The real kicker? About 1 in 5 self-proclaimed NPP supporters didn’t vote for the party at all. Even more striking, 17% of those who had intended to back Bawumia changed their minds by election day. And 14%? They went straight into the arms of Mahama.
“If your people abandon your ship, maybe it’s not the storm—it’s the captain,” as the old saying goes.
At the end of the day, this election loss wasn’t about one bad night—it was the slow unravelling of a threadbare political garment. And now, as the party licks its wounds and charts its path forward, the age-old wisdom applies: “He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.”
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